Podcast Ep. 77 | Opioid Settlement, Round 1 (with Attorney General Mike Hunter)
Episode Description
Oklahoma has sued more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies over their creation & marketing of addictive opioid medications. Last week we learned that one company, Purdue Pharma, was settling out of court for $270 million. We sat down with the state's Attorney General, Mike Hunter, to discuss the case and the settlement.
Podcast Ep. 76 | Talkin' Tourism with Lt. Gov Matt Pinnell
Episode Description
Recorded live at Missy's Donuts in Guthrie, OK, we sit down with Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell to discuss his approach to the Lt. Gov position and his other position as Secretary of Tourism & Branding.
Podcast Ep. 75 | Privileged Pollution and Secret Sh*t
Episode Description
This week we discuss a bill to keep pollution audits private, cleaning up the voter rolls, and the high cost of transporting people with mental illness. Just a typical week in Oklahoma, right?
News/Articles
Bill would make pollution information secret for companies that self-audit (Tulsa World)
SB1003, titled the “Oklahoma Environmental, Health and Safety Audit Privilege Act”
Would create a “privileged” status for reports created by entities that self-audit or hire contractors to conduct environmental compliance audits of their facilities. Those audit records would be sealed and not available publicly via an Oklahoma Open Records Act request or for court proceedings. Anyone releasing the information, including public officials, could be subject to penalties.
Oklahoma Prepares to Purge Thousands of Inactive Voters (Oklahoma Watch)
Rising costs: Mental health transports strain law enforcement resources (NonDoc)
You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corporations do it instead (USA Today)
Podcast Ep. 74 | Dead Candidates Society (with Megan Funderburk & Bo Broadwater)
Episode Description
Should deceased candidates be allowed to remain on the ballot? We discuss the implications of that situation along with independent redistricting and the structure & finances of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES).
Articles & Links
Legislators to study cost of living adjustments for Oklahoma state retirees (Tulsa World)
Edmond mayoral election and Edmond Sun poll
Our blog post on Independent Redistricting
Will you go to prom with us?
Attend our spring fundraiser and have the prom experience you wish you had back in high school.
Live Podcast | 3-2-1- Council Contact
This week we held a special, experimental event called “3-2-1 Council Contact,” which was a mashup of two podcasts - Let’s Pod This and the WAFTI Show - interviewing three members of the Oklahoma City city council, James Cooper, JoBeth Hamon, and Nikki Nice. The idea for this event came about because the Tower Theatre sits at the intersection of their respective city council wards.
The conversation included our usual News Roundup and WAFTI’s usual trivia, but we also heard the council members’ perspectives on transportation, infrastructure, MAPS, and more. Full video of the event is below, followed by links to pertinent articles and topics mentioned in the episode.
Before we get to all the links, here is the video of the March 26th OKC City Council meeting that Councilwoman Nikki Nice references during the show:
News & Articles
NewsOK, SB227: Splits OMES into 2 with IT having its own agency
Passed out of Committee
4-3 vote
Agency says this is more expensive way to do business
IT unification takes a hit
Tulsa World; Failure to renew 2014 Excellence in Mental Health Act
Demonstration project
Red Rock, NorthCare, Grand Lake Mental Health Center
Potentially devastating blow to OP mental health services
Major news:
Yesterday (3/25/19) OK Supreme Court declined to request to postpone the beginning of the opioid lawsuit
13 companies
Alleges fraudulent marketing to docs and patients
Seeking $20b in damages
Today (3/26/19): AG Hunter announces settlement with Purdue Pharma
$270m
Sackler family is responsible for $75m
We have so many questions….
Why settle?
Purdue filing for bankruptcy? <— settlement is “bankruptcy proof”
Does this make other companies likely to settler?
Does this save the state money in litigation costs?
Is $270 appropriate?
$200m to one research center seems like…a lot - was this a condition of the settlement?t
$12m for the entire rest of the state seems like...not much
Will funds awarded by the court be distributed similarly?
Some members of the community are quite upset about not getting to confront Purdue in court
Podcast Ep. 73 | Mid-Session Update (with Bo Broadwater)
Episode Summary
As bills move from one chamber to the other, we take a look at what legislation has been signed, what's [mostly] dead, and what are still alive. Special guest: Bo Broadwater from The Journal Record Legislative Report.
Show Notes
This year there are a maximum of 116 calendar days in the regular legislative session, from February 4th to May 31st, and today is day 44. That means that, according to the calendar, we’re roughly a third of the way through the session. Last week we passed a major deadline in the life of legislation - in order to stay alive, all bills needed have been passed out of committee and passed the floor of the chamber of origin. That is, all bills that started in the House must have fully passed out of the House and sent over to the Senate and all Senate bills must have fully passed out of the Senate and been sent over to the House. We started the year with 2,815 bills and joint resolutions, and now we’re down to just under 1,000.
Since this week was a bit of a snooze, we decided to use this episode as a chance to get caught up on which bills have died and which ones are still alive.
Before we do that, let’s start with the bills that Governor Stitt has already signed. There are 11 of them, including:
Abortion
Permitless carry (and a rumored veto referendum in the works for 2020…)
Medical marijuana “Unity bill”
Bills granting the Governor to hire & fire agency heads
Now let’s highlight some of the notable bills that have died (or at least appear to be dead):
HB1182, which would have revoked medical license of any physician that performed an abortion (in which the mother’s life was not endangered)
Medicaid Expansion...at least McCourtney’s proposal. (Or...maybe not
Increasing minimum wage to $10.50/hr (which, if you worked full time, would only be $21,840/ yr)
Charging legislators if they authored bills that are found to be unconstitutional (fun fact: they would have only been fined a maximum of $46)
Exempting Oklahoma from Daily Savings Time
Also bills that we at Let’s Fix This care about (they’re all dead)
Elimination of straight party voting
Automatic voter registration
Nonpartisan county elections
Nonparty sheriff elections
Independent Redistricting
Okay, so what’s left? What bills are still out there, trying to find their way
State steak! SB21 by Sen. Casey Murdock passed the Senate, now goes to the House.
Strong beer & wine at sporting events and art & music festivals
HIV education mandate. HB1018 by Rep. McEntire has been assigned to the Senate Education Committee.
Making SQ780 retroactive. (HB1269 by Dunnington)
SB 509: Significantly restricting Step Therapy
And perhaps the most important part of the legislative session that is yet to come:
The Budget, The BUDGET - THE BUDGET!
OMES $16m supplemental request
Where to stash that extra $200m?
News Round-Up
Nowata Co Jail Debacle (Washington Post)
Update on the “Joint” Medical Marijuana Working Group (Tulsa World)
The Stitt Show:
Relevant article: Are CEOs Born Leaders?
Independent Redistricting: A Primer
Many thanks to our intern, Megan Funderburk, for researching and writing this post.
This is our first post in what will be an ongoing series about the issues in our legislative agenda. We’re starting with Independent Redistricting because it’s the most pressing - the census is next year and then redistricting will occur the year after that.
Overview
The United States Constitution mandates that a census be taken every 10 years. States then must begin the process of redrawing both the congressional, state, and municipal districts. This process will begin again after the next census in 2020. District lines group different sets of voters in different ways. This process of redistricting is necessary to accurately reflect population changes and the community represented within the lines. District lines should attempt to keep together “communities of interest,” which can be things like people who hold similar beliefs, eat at the same places, and walk their dogs at the same park. The way district lines are drawn and how voters are grouped together powerfully impacts the representatives that are elected and what policies they will fight for.
Who is in charge of this important process?
Each state decides for themselves, often outlined in their state constitution, but most states put this responsibility solely in the hands of the legislature. Twenty two states use a separate commission to help with the process or to take over the process entirely. Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, and Washington have commissions that take over the redistricting process entirely using an independent commission. These commissions are made up of individuals who are not themselves a part of the state legislature. For these states, the legislature may have a part in choosing the members of the commission but won’t have a hand in drawing the lines themselves.
Why do some states feel the need to remove legislature from the process, either partially or completely?
When the legislature is in charge of redrawing the districts in which they run for office, it leaves the opportunity to manipulate the lines to keep incumbents in power or to dilute the voice of their opposition. When one party controls the legislature, that party then has the ability to serve their own interests by redrawing the lines in their favor. Representatives can then, essentially, choose their own voters. This is called partisan gerrymandering. This can be done by drawing lines to exclude potential opposition or by packing multiple voters of a party into one district or diluting the voters across multiple districts.
What does this mean for Oklahoma?
Oklahoma law allows the party in power to draw the district lines. With the coming 2020 census, we have to ask ourselves if this is our best option? Is there a better alternative to draw state lines to best represent the people?
Although there are criticisms for every redistricting process, there are many advocates for the independent commission. An independent commission is currently used by six states with multiple other states moving in that direction. If created well, an independent commission creates a third party that can mitigate the issues that come with the ability of incumbent legislators to draw lines to keep themselves in power. Independent commissions may be the best way to reduce the drawing of lines motivated by self-interest.
The above images are examples of four Oklahoma legislative districts - two House, two Senate, and one of each from each party - that, at least at a glance, appear to be gerrymandered. We’re not saying they necessarily are, but they do serve as a good example of why we need to pay attention to redistricting and push for an independent commission to handle it. The screenshots were taken from the OAEC Digital Legislative Guide app - a free & handy resource for anyone interested in Oklahoma politics.
Redistricting is complicated. There’s no doubt about it. The redrawing of district lines is a long, tedious process that is tough for whomever is in charge, but it’s also necessary. Our democracy relies on our voices being heard and heard equally. But it’s easy to understand that a change is necessary. Leaving the redistricting process in the hands of the very people who stand to directly benefit just doesn’t make sense. Independent commissions provide a realistic alternative that allows for transparency, accountability, and removes heavy and direct partisan involvement.
The Brennan Center for Justice provides a great resource about redistricting that attempts to make all the complicated details manageable.
If you want to try your own hand at the tough job of drawing district line, you can play this online Redistricting Game.
Podcast Ep. 72 | Gravel Tax and Sunshine Week (with Tres Savage & Joe Hight)
Episode Summary
Tres Savage from NonDoc explains the finer points of why Oklahoma counties should be allowed to tax the production of aggregates (i.e. rocks and gravel) and we visit with Joe Hight, chairman of Freedom of Information Oklahoma, to discuss Sunshine Week, government transparency, and whether the legislature should be subject to the Open Records Act.
Legislation mentioned
Podcast Ep. 71 | Religion & Politics (with Jon Middendorf)
Most of us were taught that it's impolite to discuss religion & politics, but in Oklahoma, those topics are often intertwined. In the eyes of Jon Middendorf, pastor at @okcfirst, the gospel "has to have skin on it," and by that measure, it is inherently a political conversation. Join us as we discuss the intersection of these two issues and how they define our state.
Podcast Ep. 70 | Auditing Oddity and Agency Appointments (with Julia Kirt)
Summary
Are multiple, concurrent audits of Oklahoma's Medicaid program really necessary? Plus we're joined by Senator Julia Kirt to discuss if allowing the Governor to appoint agency directors more or less transparent than the current system of boards.